TRANSCRIPT
Natalie Ahmat: The Indigenous Affairs Minister says signature policies of the Abbott Government will remain under Prime Minister Turnbull for now.
It comes as the Governor-General swore in the rest of the Turnbull Ministry today, with one First Nations politician making history.
Our political reporter Myles Morgan explains.
Myles Morgan: Meet the Turnbull Government. But there was one face missing - he was in the United States for parliamentary business.
Malcolm Turnbull, Prime Minister: Ken Wyatt will be sworn in when he returns from overseas.
Ken Wyatt will become the first Aboriginal person in Australia's history to hold a ministry in a serving government.
He proudly identifies as having Nyoongar, Yamatji and Wongi heritage.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the agencies of government need to jettison the old mindsets that embody Indigenous Australians as passive recipients of government programs and services.
He'll take on the role of Assistant Health Minister, serving under Sussan Ley.
And, Nigel Scullion will keep his job as Indigenous Affairs Minister.
Nigel Scullion, Indigenous Affairs Minister: I didn't get to know whether I had a job or not until after the announcement. I was out on the Tanami Highway for work on Sunday. So, I haven't had an opportunity to speak to Malcolm but I'm looking forward to it.
You can't just say 'we'll scrap that'. What do we do? Take the money back? Let's get fair dinkum. The Indigenous Advancement Strategy is a great step forward. Yes there's critics
Tony Abbott's Indigenous mantra - getting the kids to school, the adults to work and making communities safe - will live on for now.
Nigel Scullion: Whilst they are the fundamentals there's a myriad of other programs going on around those fundamentals but that won't be changing because that's where the need is most.
The former prime minister was also passionate about the multi-million dollar Recognise movement and the pending recognition referendum.
Nigel Scullion: I think we've made a huge investment in that and while I haven't spoken to Malcolm about this but I know this is going to be firmly on my agenda.
The new ministry will also need to decide what to do with the controversial Indigenous Advancement Strategy.
Nigel Scullion: You can't just say 'we'll scrap that'. What do we do? Take the money back? Let's get fair dinkum. The Indigenous Advancement Strategy is a great step forward. Yes there's critics.
All the critics feel they've been left out because "We were looked over; we were fantastics." Let me tell you: Competitive program, we've picked the best providers.
Here at parliament there's a lot of movement. Some politicians are moving into bigger offices, others into smallers ones.
That's how new the government is. But with all the pieces in place now, the Turnbull Government can finally begin creating some concrete policies.
Myles Morgan, NITV NEWS
